ascribed her affection to nobler motives.......and she obtained an absolute interest in my heart. I cannot determine whether the Priestess was ignorant how great an ascendancy might be gained over some minds, when we have once discovered the secret of interesting their natural affections......or whether..... displeased at the cold inaptitude of my heart...... she had determined to revenge the insult offered to her charms. I fell at her feet......supplicating her to bless me with a knowledge of my birth.........She was deaf to all- my intreaties......ordered me to leave her..... and cruelly persisted..........for a long time.........in denying me a second interview. The anxiety I should have experienced in being thus left on the rack of suspense, was moderated by the superior claim my soul acknowledged to all its dearest interests.......Psyche .........so I afterwards understood my incognita was called...........engrossed every faculty..........and the glance of eye, at parting........beaming mingled innocency and love.....had penetrated the recesses of my heart. her I had a very imperfect idea of what I had seen;......but, when I meditated on her angel form standing before me in the avenue........methought I could again feel the insinuating glance, which,.......like a gleam of heavenly light.......irradiated my being........And so forcible was the impression.......... I looked till I thought I saw her actually before me, and my soul dissolved with ecstacies, whose melting softness no language can describe. These pleasures were, however, too unsubstantial to continue their imposition on the senses.......a tender melancholy succeeded........not unmixed with delight......and I had the utmost difficulty to appear gay, when necessity led me among my companions. While all the inhabitants of the Temple were hushed in peaceful sleep .......I wandered about like a spirit through the grove.......amid the solemnities of night.....courting awful solitude to indulge my feelings. In one of these midnight rambles I chanced to stray to an unknown part of the grove, which had the appearance of a wilderness........its wild aspect charmed me......Entering it...... I discovered a plantation of lofty Cypress trees, which overtopped a winding labyrinth interspersed with bowers of evergreens. This maze led to an open space which was enclosed on one side by clusters of wild laurel....which, like an amphitheatre..........rose gradually above each other;.....and the opposite side was bounded by a shrubbery of mingled myrtles and roses. The center was filled with statues fancifully disposed.........They were of white marble............and represented Nymphs sleeping over the urns their arms embraced......Wild flowers......in contending groupe.....held up their lovely heads....blooming on the amorous stalks which twined around their polished limbs,...and their lively colors .......proudly blossoming amidst the delicacy of the Parian marble........increased in beauty. A stream of the clearest water issued from each urn, and fell....... sparkling.....into an immense bason of black marble, in which the Virgins of the Delphic Temple usually bathed in summer. Tradition had served to consecrate this spot......it was sacred to the chaste Diana........and its hallowed privacy was held inaccessible to our sex, who superstitiously dreaded to intrude on its retirement. The moment I found myself in the sanctuary........I remembered that I trod on forbidden ground........... Yet I wandered thither by chance......I was a poor harmless enthusiast, who had no design to intrude on the repose of the Goddess........I hoped the innocency of my intention would shield me from her resentment. While I stood pondering...........no portentous omen dismayed me........ The stars shone with uncommon brilliancy in the heavens.....a mild invigorating air played through the shrubbery.......and I advanced. I had not taken many steps before my alarm returned......I thought I saw the Goddess......retired from the fa |